Virgilio Nabs Opening Night Sportsman Event at the Valley !

By Wayne G. Barber

In the Sportsman class, the move of the night occurred at the very start of the race.  Frank Hoard, Jr. started on the pole with Michael Sabia alongside.  By all indications, Hoard got a very good when the green flew.  From there, we’ll let third-place starter John Virgilio describe the start in his own words.

“I just ran to the outside [in turn 1],” Virgilio said after the race.  “They let off a little earlier than I figured they were going to, so I had to get on the brakes a lot hard than I wanted to.  It was kind of a ‘hero or zero’ move, but it ended up working out in my favor.”

Virgilio’s “hero or zero move” allowed him to swoop into the lead from the second row on the first lap.  Sabia and the rest of his competitors did get multiple chances at him on restarts, though.  The first incident occurred on lap 3 when Chris Curtis spun in turn 2.  Curtis was then hit by Jim Boardman, who rolled over.  Curtis continued, while Boardman was ok, but done for the night.  On the restart, Nikki Ouelette got a little loose and while catching her car, got into Curtis, who spun again to bring another caution out.

With only 19 cars starting the Sportsman feature, there was a long run right after the second restart that allowed Virgilio to stretch out his advantage.  For Curtis, however, the hits kept on coming.  On lap 11, Curtis had contact with Alissa Cody in turn 2 while battling for position.  The hit flattened Curtis’ right rear tire, forcing him to stop.  The stop led to Curtis’ retirement from the race.Behind Virgilio, Matt Pappa and Sabia battled for second pretty hard.  On lap 12, Pappa was able to get a strong run exiting turn 4 and took the position away.  Pappa had a faster car than Virgilio, but had spotted him too much.

Virgilio was on his way to an easy win when Sabia ran up on the lapped car of Ouelette with a lap to go.  There was contact between the two drivers, resulting in Ouelette spinning out in turn 1.  That set up a one-lap shootout.  On said shootout, Matt Pappa tried to make a run on Virgilio, but could not overcome the Turner Auto-sponsored driver, who claimed the win.

Sportsman Results: 1) 14- John Virgilio, 2) 20JR- Matt Pappa, 3) 7S- Michael Sabia, 4) 53- Whitey Slavin, 5) 78- Frank Hoard, Jr., 6) 74- Chris Lynch, 7) 33C- Cody Ochs, 8) 28- Cody Hunt, 9) 21L- Alissa Cody, 10) 34- Buddy Hencke, 11) 6R- Ryan Heath, 12) 16- Nikki Ouelette, 13) 88- John Miller, 14) 35- Chris Curtis, 15) 88JR- Olden Dwyer, 16) 43- Ricky Davis, 17) 43S- Phil Wood, 18) 70- Jim Boardman, 19) 21- Zeb Catlin

Sportsman Heat #1 Results: 1) 78- Frank Hoard, Jr., 2) 14- John Virgilio, 3) 53- Whitey Slavin, 4) 35- Chris Curtis, 5) 43- Ricky Davis, 6) 33C- Cody Ochs, 7) 70- Jim Boardman, 8) 88JR- Olden Dwyer, 9) 16- Nikki Ouelette

Sportsman Heat #2 Results: 1) 7S- Michael Sabia, 2) 20JR- Matt Pappa, 3) 74- Chris Lynch, 4) 28- Cody Hunt, 5) 21- Zeb Catlin, 6) 21L- Alissa Cody, 7) 34- Buddy Hencke, 8) 6R- Ryan Heath        Where

Our Next Event Is Sponsored By Heavy Hauler & Boomer's Performance

Lebanon Valley Speedway, U.S. 20, West Lebanon, NY, United States

Lebanon Valley Speedway, U.S. 20, West Lebanon, NY, United States

When

Saturday, May 2nd 2015

5:00 PM — 10:00 PM EDT